Five organizers of the tournament were arrested and charged with illegal gambling, which occurs when a game has a buy-in and a payout and the outcome is determined predominantly by chance, or luck. There are exceptions, such as if everyone involved has a “bona fide” social relationship.

Poker supporters contend that the popular card game shouldn’t be considered gambling because it requires more skill than luck.

In January 2009, a county court jury acquitted the first defendant to go to trial, Kevin Raley, and charges against the others were subsequently dropped. During trial, the Windsor resident called an expert – University of Denver professor Bob Hannum – to testify that poker is a game of skill.

Raley also presented evidence that players in the tournament had a social relationship. Jurors didn’t state a reason for the not-guilty verdict, so it’s unclear which argument swayed them.

Even though Raley won’t be retried, the state appealed to the district court the ruling that allowed Hannum to testify, seeking to clarify Colorado’s gambling laws in regard to poker for future prosecutions.

Last August, Weld County District Court Judge James Hartmann ruled that the county court judge erred in allowing Hannum to testify because poker is already considered gambling under Colorado law.

Raley, with support from the Poker Players Alliance, an advocacy group, then asked the state Supreme Court to review the case.

New Jersey is trying to become the first state to legalize Internet gambling, according to this Press of Atlantic City story.

A proposed bill would allow operators of brick-and-mortar casinos in the state to operate web sites that offer games such as poker. Apparently, California is considering similar legislation.

Internet gambling took a major hit in 2006 after Congress passed a bill that prohibited U.S. banks and credit-card companies from processing transactions for gambling websites. Several popular poker sites operated internationally, including PartyPoker, stopped taking bets from U.S. residents.

Despite the federal crackdown, we’ve continued to see ads in the U.S. for PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and other online gambling sites because they refer to the companies’ .net home pages, which are billed as educational tools that allow users to play poker with chips that don’t have monetary value. The .com sites are the actual gambling sites. Indeed, countless U.S. residents are still illegally gambling on those sites, and that revenue generated for operators remains untaxed.

Proponents say regulating online gambling would help bolster state revenues at a time when many are struggling with budget shortfalls. Opponents say it would create more problems for pathological gamblers and open the door for underage gambling.

Separately,the Colorado Supreme Court may be asked to rule on whether poker is gambling or a game of skill. We’re still waiting for an appeal to be filed by Kevin Raley, the defendant in the case, with help from the Poker Players Alliance.

Ameristar CEO Gordon Kanofsky told me last month that the company’s Black Hawk casino posted a 24 percent increase in revenue during the third quarter (the industry recorded 8 percent growth during the same three months). Pretty astonishing numbers. But it’s even more staggering witnessing the domination first hand.

More than five months after bet limits were raised, and two-and-a-half months after Ameristar opened its luxury hotel, the company’s Black Hawk casino is literally crushing the competition, based on my experience and accounts from casino employees.

The Lodge Casino, the premier spot for poker players in Black Hawk just six months ago, struggled to fill tables on a recent Friday evening. Even with a $300,000 bad-beat jackpot, it felt like a weekday evening as about half of the casino’s poker tables were unoccupied. Meanwhile, two-hour waits for a seat at a 1-2, 100 game are common in Ameristar’s poker room on weekend nights.

The state Division of Gaming should release November revenue figures within the next week. But it won’t be broken out by casino. We won’t know just how far ahead of the competition Ameristar is until the company announces fourth quarter financial results early next year. My guess is the gap between Ameristar and the rest of the industry will widen.

And while regulators have already cut their projection on casino-tax revenue growth for the current fiscal year from 25 percent to 10 percent, I wouldn’t be surprised if the forecast was cut even further. By most accounts, Ameristar is the only casino that is maintaining or exceeding the growth pace seen during the first month of higher limits, extended hours and new games.

The assumption is that more regulars are playing at Ameristar with hopes of earning comps for the casino’s hotel, which is clearly a cut above anything else available in Black Hawk. Whether the casino can hold onto those gamblers after Read more…

Colorado Division of Gaming director Ron Kammerzell provided some interesting statistics about the state’s casino industry at a Legislative Audit Committee hearing Monday. As noted in today’s story, regulators sharply cut the projection on the impact of Amendment 50 on gaming tax revenue to 10 percent from 25 percent.

During the first two months of the changes, black jack revenue shot up 237 percent and poker increased 46 percent. Slot revenue was up 1.9 percent, not including games that have a max bet of higher than $5 maximum. Slots still generate the bulk of the industry’s revenue. In July and August, slots generated more than $130 million in revenue, while poker generated $6.4 million.

Through the entire calendar year 2008, the division received 1,005 new support license applications, which is an indication of new hires at the casinos. So far this year, the division has received 2,357 new applications. In July and August alone, there were 555 applications. The monthly average historically has been about 100, Kammerzell said. The numbers show that casinos have continued to hire two months after the changes took effect. Ameristar Casinos said last week its employment has increased from 490 to 750 this year, and would reach 800 by the time its hotel opens tonight.

To make room for the new table games, casinos cut back on their slot machines, from 16,787 in the fiscal year that ended June 30 to 15,673 during the current fiscal year. Poker tables nearly tripled and black jack tables doubled. There are 27 craps tables and 26 roulette tables at casinos in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek.

The Gaming Division’s budget for the current fiscal year is $10.5 million, up 6 percent from fiscal 2009. It added 13 full-time workers to handle Amendment 50 changes and now employ 92.

A fun comparison between golf and poker is tucked in a 20-page brief filed in a Colorado case that may help the state decide whether poker is a game of skill or chance.

The filing this week by the Poker Players Alliance, an advocacy group, argues that the numbers below show “poker requires as much skill as golf to win consistently.”

Results ’76-’00

WSOP main event

PGA Championship

Back-to-back winners

3

2

Number of different winners

21

22

Winners of more than 1 title

4

3

Winners with other top 10 finishes

14 of 21

15 of 22

Top 10 finishes per winner

2.48

2.96

Average number of entrants

187

156

The filing states that from 1976 to 2000, 21 different players won the World Series of Poker. One person won three times in that span (Stu Ungar), and three others won twice (Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan).

Three of the repeat winners won back-to-back titles (Brunson, Ungar and Chan). Fourteen of the 21 players were “repeat finalists” who finished among the top 10 in one or more of the other tournaments.

In the same period, there were 22 different winners of the PGA Championship, three multiple winners and only Tiger Woods won back-to-back titles. Fifteen of the 22 champions made it into the top 10 in another year.

As much as I like poker, I must say golf takes way more skill. Both put major dents in my wallet whenever I play them, but it takes a lot more skill to make that little white ball go where you want it to go than it does to take down a pot.

Raley also argued that he wasn’t guilty of illegal gambling because everyone at the tournament had a “bona fide” social relationship. The jury didn’t state the reason for its not-guilty verdict, so it’s unclear whether they bought the argument that poker is a game of skill.

Nonetheless, the state’s decision to challenge that aspect could eventually lead to a rewrite of Colorado’s poker laws. But that may Read more…

The state of Minnesota has asked 11 Internet service providers, including Denver-based Qwest, to block access to 200 gambling websites, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The list includes some well-known sites, such as Fulltiltpoker.com and Bodog.com, but surprisingly omits Pokerstars.com, one of the more popular poker sites. Full Tilt Poker is perhaps the most visible online poker operation in the world because many pros are connected to it, including Phil Ivey. Full Tilt, like many others, advertises in the U.S. under its .net alias, which doesn’t offer cash gambling.

Online gambling took a big hit in 2006 when the U.S. made it illegal for banks and credit-card companies to process transactions for gambling websites. At the time, U.S. residents generated half of the revenue for online poker sites. PartyPoker.com, the premier poker gambling site at the time, closed its doors to U.S. gamblers in the aftermath, as did several other large operations. Those that did were legitimate, publicly traded companies based overseas.

Sites operated privately have continued to take action from U.S. gamblers, processing deposits and withdrawals either through wire transfers, calling card sales or other methods.

In Colorado, the AG’s office and the Division of Gaming have issued joint releases reminding residents that online gambling is illegal in the U.S. But the state has not served notice to ISPs to specifically block access to gambling websites.

Andy Vuong joined The Denver Post as a business reporter in 2000 after graduating from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a news-editorial degree. His primary beats are gambling, telecommunications and technology. Over the years, his coverage has included everything from aviation to federal courts.